Business Design Deep Dive Workshops
The Business Design Initiative is excited to kick-off of its 2023-2034 Business Design Mini Deep-Dive Series. This program offers a range of immersive workshops which demonstrate how Business Design is being actively applied in industry. The sessions are designed to provide students with learning-by-doing opportunities within specialized topic areas so they can gain familiarity with Business Design and explore the range of problem sets where it can be leveraged to offer value. Each session has a unique theme, and students can join any or all that are of interest. The first three are outlined below, with more to be announced soon!
Session 1 – October 25th – 5 – 8pm Future Thinking: Developing Business Foresight
Facilitated by Emma Aiken-Klar, PhD, Academic Director of BDI
This 3 hour session is designed to enable participants to anticipate how the future might disrupt business-as-usual, and to embed resilience into strategy and decision-making. Participants will be introduced to the fundamentals, methods and application of strategic foresight (when, why, and how it is practiced), and build an understanding about the practice of foresight in the context of business design and innovation, including real-world cases. After being introduced to the basic principles and process of strategic foresight, participants will engage in a series of learning-by-doing activities to gain fluency in the methods and begin thinking about how to integrate the approach into their own organizational and business contexts.
Learning Objectives
- Develop a foundational understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of the foresight discipline;
- Develop a working fluency with a set of futures tools and methods;
- Learn and practice how to apply Horizon Scanning, Drivers Mapping, Critical Uncertainties and Future Scenarios to a foresight challenge;
- Translate relevance and next steps for specific organizational and business contexts.
Session 2 – November 15th 6 – 8pm – Artificial Experience Design (AX)
Facilitated by Shane Saunderson, PhD, Principal, Artificial Futures
AX is the next generation of UX for the age of automation. However, no longer do we simply ask “where should I place this button?” or “how should I structure information?”. We now must ask questions like “what personality do my words convey?”, “how does my bot’s facial expression make people feel?”, or even “what kind of relationship will someone develop with this agent?”. Technology is transitioning from being a tool in our hands to a relationship in our lives. As such, designing modern automation demands complex considerations well beyond simply the structure, text, and visuals of an interaction. This module guides participants in approaching AI design from a more holistic standpoint that considers the broader meaning and relationships people form with automation to ensure a consistent, intentional experience. This knowledge will be critical to future digital transformation projects within your workplace that begin to embed these increasingly social technologies into the fabric of our work.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn a foundational understanding of user experience design and it’s limitations;
- Identify the complex psychological and relational considerations of designing social automation;
- Practice identifying social and semiotic AI implications and how to design for them;
- Gain experience with incorporating social automation (AI & robotics) into a business workflow.
Session 3 – Jan 17 – Systems Thinking for Sustainable Business Design and Innovation
Facilitated by Emma Aiken-Klar, PhD, Academic Director of BDI
Sustainable and responsible business transformation requires us to imagine and implement change outside traditional linear structures and see the systemic and interconnected ecosystems in which business operates. This three hour session will provide a systems thinking lens into the ways that organizations can leverage business design towards their broader ESG goals. Through a combination of case studies and some hands-on activities, this session will introduce key concepts and practical skills to navigate complex sustainability challenges and drive business design and innovation with a holistic and systems-led approach.
Learning Objectives:
- Introduction to systems thinking and how it applies to sustainable innovation;
- Exploration of key concepts, models and case studies of sustainable innovation, such as circular economy, donut economics, biomimicry, cradle-to-cradle design and Seventh Generation Principle;
- Practice using tools and methods such system maps, leverage points, etc to identify opportunities for sustainable innovation and business design.